Sharp Nadal breezes into Vina del Mar final

Vina del Mar, Chile (Sports Network) - Rafael Nadal was in top form once
again in his first tournament since coming back from a seven-month layoff,
with the former world No. 1 easily getting past Jeremy Chardy to reach the
championship match of the ATP World Tour's VTR Open.

The top-seeded 11-time Grand Slam champion needed just over an hour to dispose
of the third-seeded Chardy by a 6-2, 6-2 score in Saturday's semifinals on the
red clay at Club Naval de Campo Las Silnas. Nadal began the match by breaking
a shaky Chardy, who double-faulted three times on his first serve, and
recorded three more breaks of the Frenchman later on.

The Spanish star, who had been sidelined since the summer by a knee injury,
will now shoot for his 37th career clay-court title when he faces unseeded
Horacio Zeballos in Sunday's final.

Zeballos, ranked 73rd in the world, earned his second career ATP final by
upending eighth-seeded and fellow Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in
Saturday's first semi. The left-hander hammered out a 76 percent success rate
on first serves to knock out Berlocq, who lost to countryman Juan Monaco in
the title match of this event last year.

The 27-year-old Zeballos, who previously took out fourth-seeded Pablo Andujar
and No. 5 seed Albert Ramos to reach the semis, last reached a tournament
final at St. Petersburg in 2009, a loss to Serhiy Stakhovsky.